The awards are a tad 'loopy'

Saturday

Dec 22, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 22, 2012 at 11:25 AM

Each year – or at least for the past six – NASCAR’s “integrated marketing/communications team” issues what it dubs its “Loopies,” i.e., awards determined by examining the so-called “loop data” from Sprint Cup races.

Monte Dutton

Each year – or at least for the past six – NASCAR’s “integrated marketing/communications team” issues what it dubs its “Loopies,” i.e., awards determined by examining the so-called “loop data” from Sprint Cup races.

Though he finished third in the Chase, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson finished first in 13 of the 15 categories.

What were the titles indicative of Johnson’s excellence? He led in Driver Rating (109.5), Average Running Position, Fastest Early in a Run, Fastest Late in a Run, Fastest Laps Run, Fastest on Restarts, Green-Flag Speed, Laps in Top 15, Laps Led, Miles Led, Percentage of Laps Run on the Lead Lap, Speed by Quarter and Speed in Traffic.

Some of the awards were a bit less scientific-sounding. Most Improved was Greg Biffle. Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards was Least Improved, which was a polite and slightly inaccurate way of putting it since it didn’t actually reflect improvement. The “Closer” statistic, won by Ryan Newman, referred to improvement in position over the final 10 percent of a race. The worst “Closer,” was Dale Earnhardt, who lost a net 41 positions in the final 10 percent.

Champion Brad Keselowski had the most Quality Passes, defined as passes of a driver in the top 15. That number, by the way, was 2,201.

Too busy – Robby Gordon, heavily involved in something called Off Road’s Stadium Super Truck Series, has no plans to compete in NASCAR this year, though a spokesman for Gordon said he “would never rule out the possibility of running selected NASCAR events.”

Gordon will again compete in the Dakar Rally, which begins on Jan. 5 in Lima, Peru.

Outside now – Showtime has canceled its weekly “Inside NASCAR” show after three seasons. The show has most recently been hosted by Chris Myers, with Kyle Petty and Michael Waltrip.

A NASCAR spokesman said the who would be “actively shopped” to other television entities.

It takes endurance – Chip Ganassi will run his Cup drivers, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray, in the Rolex 24. They won’t compete on the same team. Ganassi entries have won the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series championship six times.